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ViosApplication · Ibm

CVE-2023-45173

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-01-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3, and VIOS 3.1 could allow a non-privileged local user to exploit a vulnerability in the NFS kernel extension to cause a denial of service. IBM X-Force ID: 267971.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A vulnerability in the NFS kernel extension on IBM AIX 7.2, 7.3, and VIOS 3.1 allows a non-privileged local user to trigger a denial of service condition. The issue stems from insufficient bounds checking or error handling within the kernel-level NFS implementation, which can be exploited by a local attacker to cause a system crash or hang.

MitigationApply IBM's security patches for this vulnerability (contact IBM support for APARs). As a compensating control, disable NFS services if not required, or restrict NFS access to only trusted networks and implement network-level filtering.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
ViosApplication
Affected:= 3.1
AixOperating system
Affected:= 7.2= 7.3

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed AIX or VIOS version
    Run 'oslevel -s' on AIX or 'ioslevel' on VIOS to obtain the exact version and TL/SP level
    Affected if The version is AIX 7.2, AIX 7.3, or VIOS 3.1 (any TL/SP within these releases)
  2. Verify NFS service status
    Run 'lssrc -s nfsd' to check if the NFS daemon is active, or run 'lsnfsexp' to list exported NFS filesystems
    Affected if NFS services (nfsd, rpc.lockd, rpc.statd) are listed as active or any NFS exports exist
  3. Check for applied security fixes
    Run 'instfix -i -j CVE-2023-45173' or 'emgr -l' to list installed fixes and cross-reference with IBM APARs for this vulnerability
    Affected if No IBM security patch for CVE-2023-45173 is installed (APARs not present in fix list)
  4. Review NFS kernel extensions
    Run 'genkex | grep nfs' to list loaded NFS-related kernel extensions
    Affected if NFS kernel extensions are loaded into the kernel

A system is affected if it runs AIX 7.2, 7.3, or VIOS 3.1 with NFS services enabled and lacks the IBM security patch for this vulnerability.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply IBM's security patches for this vulnerability (contact IBM support for APARs). As a compensating control, disable NFS services if not required, or restrict NFS access to only trusted networks and implement network-level filtering.

Fix this in Vios Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,680
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-45173 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data